By Kimberly Stanton
Colombia's internal armed conflict is nearly fifty years old. It has outlasted the cold war and persisted in spite of repeated attempts to negotiate peace, some of which succeeded in decommissioning insurgent groups. The con.ict has co-existed with formally democratic institutions, but political exclusion has been a major cause of the violence. Colombia is a middle-income country with a wealth of natural resources, yet nearly 60 percent of the population lives in poverty. The country has one of the most progressive constitutions and one of the most